Raptors Republic

Morning Coffee Aug 8

The Raptors’ resident Turk hopes to delight the fans in Toronto this season by making the NBA all-star team for the first time in his career.

Hedo Turkoglu, who was acquired by the Raptors on July 9 in a sign-and- trade deal involving four teams, told the Turkish newspaper Zaman recently that his primary goal for this 2009-10 NBA season is to make the all-star team.

The guys who I consider to be dead weight are — Marcus Banks, Roko Ukic, Quincy Douby and Patrick O’Bryant.

I’d like to see the Raptors remove at least three of those players from the squad. I don’t think O’Bryant is good enough to play in the NBA, so he’s an easy call. Then it’s a choice between the three point guards. I’d like to see Banks removed from the equation, because I hold zero hope for him coming good at this stage of his career whereas there’s still some hope for both Roko + Douby to improve. I’d be happy with either Roko or Douby in the third string slot, but I’d prefer to keep Roko.